Levy, Neuhardt, Sutton, Obama win

On Election Day Yellow Springs voters came through for local schools, local candidates and Senator Barack Obama. The renewal permanent improvement levy for the Yellow Springs school district sailed to victory, unlike school levies in most Greene County towns that went down in defeat. Villager Sharen Neuhardt, with a strong push from her hometown, won the Democratic primary for the U.S. House seat in the 7th District and will now be her party’s candidate in November. And although Ohio Democratic voters preferred Hillary Clinton overall, in Yellow Springs the Barack Obama phenomenon won the day.

Villager Jerry Sutton won his bid in the Democratic race for Greene County Commissioner, and Democrat Connie Crockett, running unopposed in the primary for state representative, 84th District, won 4,050 votes in Greene County.

Jerry Sutton

Local voter turnout was high, with more than 60 percent turnout in most village precincts.

Yellow Springs has four precincts, with precinct 440 covering the northern part of town with a southern border of Dayton Street; precinct 441 the central area between Dayton Street on the west and Xenia Avenue on the east; precinct 442 the south central area between Xenia Avenue on the west and Corry Street on the east; and precinct 443 the area south of Allen Street.

Issue 10

The District of Yellow Springs permanent improvement levy was a renewal levy that will fund only capital projects for the schools. The school administration sought the levy for upgrades in computers, a new heating system for the McKinney School, a modern telephone system and preventive maintenance for the Mills Lawn roof, among others.

Voters in all Yellow Springs districts said thumbs up for the school levy.

Presidential race

Democratic voters in Yellow Springs wanted Barack Obama to carry the state, with about 70 percent of voters in most precincts favoring the Illinois senator. Overall in Yellow Springs, 1,212 voters cast their votes for Obama, while 518 voted for Clinton. Dennis Kucinich picked up nine votes in the village, and former candidate John Edwards won eight.

But Greene County and Ohio voters had a different message, and they won the day. In Greene County, 13,102 Democrats, or about 51 percent, voted for Clinton, while 12,250, or 47 percent, favored Obama. Edwards won 349 votes, and Kucinich came in fourth with 88. In Ohio overall, 993,715 Democrats chose Clinton, and 753,050 favored Obama. John Edwards won 32,400 votes.

In the Republican contest, John McCain was the favorite of the village, the county and the state. In three of the four village precincts (precinct 441 numbers were not available) McCain won 67 votes overall, with Mike Huckabee garnering 27 votes, Ron Paul nine and Rudy Giuliani, one. In Greene County, McCain gained 13,436 votes, while Huckabee won 8,886. Former Republican candidate Mitt Romney won 651 votes, Paul gained 727 and Fred Thompson won 299.

7th District race

In the primary race for the 7th District Congressional seat, Neuhardt won the Democratic nomination and will face Republican State Senator Steve Austria in the general election in November. They will compete to replace outgoing Representative Dave Hobson, a Republican from Springfield.

Neuhardt won by a landslide in Greene County and a healthy margin in Ohio. Results for Yellow Springs voters were not available in time for publication.

Among Greene County Democrats, Neuhardt was the clear favorite, winning 8,469 votes, while the next highest vote getter was Bill Conner with 4,780.

On the Republican side, Austria was far and away the only real contender in Greene County with 15,583 votes. The next highest Republican vote getter was Ron Hood with 5,637.

The Democratic race for the 7th District statewide was closer, with Neuhardt emerging with 30,429 votes, and Conner coming close with 27,736.

But for Republicans, statewide support was behind Austria who got 40,108 votes to Hood’s 24,622.

Commissioner seat

For Greene County Commissioner Yellow Springs resident Jerome Sutton took the Democratic nomination with few votes to spare and will face former County Commissioner Marilyn Reid in the fall. They vie to replace current commissioner Ralph Harper.

In the Greene County Democratic race Sutton tallied 8,600 votes, while his opponent Jeffrey Flora won a close 8,077 votes.

For Republicans in Greene County Reid totaled 6,422 votes, compared to Donald Anderson with 3,678.

Information on Yellow Springs tallies were not available in time for publication.